Phishing
Josh Tsukamoto
What is Phishing?
• Email that falsely claims to be a legitimate
company
•Steals personal and financial
information
• Also called brand spoofing or carding
History
• 1st recorded incident in Jan 1996
•AOL - exchange of software
•1997 - AOL forces pirated software off
servers
Damage caused by phishing
•Loss of access to email
• Financial losses, including identity theft
•Up to 20% of recipients will respond
How to Protect Yourself
• Don’t click on links regarding personal
information
• Use virus protection and a firewall
Protect Yourself Part 2
• Act immediately!
•Forward suspected phishing to
spam@uce.gov
• File a complaint at ftc.gov
Phishing Info
• Between May 2004-May 2005 – 1.2 million
people were victims
•Approximately $929 million
•United Kingdom – total of £12 million
•January 26, 2004 – 1st lawsuit against a
suspected phisher
Phishing Statistics
Summary
• Phishing – online attempt to obtain
financial information
•Done through email or instant messaging
•If you think you are a victim, act immediately
References
• “Anti-Phishing Working Group”. 20 April 2006. Available
http://www.antiphishing.org/
• Bower, Amanda. “Don’t’ Lose Credit!”. Time, 0040781X, 20 March 2006,
Vol. 167, Issue 12.
• “How to Not Get Hokked by a Phishing Scam”. Federal Trade Commission.
20 April 2006. Available
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm
• “Phishing”. Computerworld. 20 April 2006. Available
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89096,
00.html.
• “Phishing”. Wikipedia. 20 April 2006. Available
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing.